Skip to main content

Benjamin Lax papers

 Collection — Multiple Containers
Identifier: MC-0234

Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Benjamin Lax papers contain correspondence, travel agendas, speeches, and papers Lax presented at national and international professional conferences on such subjects as semiconductors, materials science, cyclotrons, and magnetism. Also includes correspondence and other records from Lax's years at Lincoln Laboratory, and laboratory notes for a course taught in 1952, Selected Topics in the Theory of Solids (8.363). There are manuscripts, drafts, and reprints of his writings on subjects including ferrites, cyclotrons, semiconductors, magnetism, and electronics, as well as his reviews of papers he refereed for Physical Review; and records of the American Physical Society committees on which he served.

Dates

  • Creation: 1925 - 1975

Creator

Access note

This collection is open.

Conditions Governing Use

Access to collections in the Department of Distinctive Collections is not authorization to publish. Please see the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy for permission information. Copyright of some items in this collection may be held by respective creators, not by the donor of the collection or MIT.

Biography

Benjamin Lax, 1915- , B.S. in mechanical engineering, 1941, Cooper Union; Ph.D. in physics, 1949, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, was an Army radar officer assigned to the MIT Radiation Laboratory from 1944 to 1946. He joined the newly formed MIT Lincoln Laboratory in 1951, becoming head of the Solid State Division in 1955 and associate director in 1964. In 1965 he was appointed professor of physics at MIT. He helped to plan and build the Francis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory, of which he was the first director from 1961 to 1981. His research focused on solid state and other areas of physics requiring high magnetic fields and included work on microwave ferrites, plasma physics, semiconductors, magnetospectroscopy, thermonuclear fusion, x-rays, and lasers.

Extent

8 Cubic Feet (in 8 record cartons)

Language of Materials

English

Location

Materials are stored off-site. Advance notice is required for use.

Processing Information note

Some collection descriptions are based on legacy data and may be incomplete or contain inaccuracies. Description may change pending verification. Please contact the MIT Department of Distinctive Collections if you notice any errors or discrepancies.

Title
Preliminary Inventory to the Papers of Benjamin Lax
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin

Repository Details

Part of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Libraries. Department of Distinctive Collections Repository

Contact:
Massachusetts Institute of Technology Libraries
Building 14N-118
77 Massachusetts Avenue
Cambridge MA 02139-4307 US